Episode 23:The Pint Size Job The Six Little Romulans Job, Part 3 - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki

10 Moskva

Paragon got a 5-star review from Madame Tsao, the Sekushina Meido supervisor, who particularly singled out her deference, and her aesthetic sense in attending to the foyer flower arrangement. Two more jobs and she’ll be evaluated for serving work. Also, she made NB5, net of the cost of your uniform. Paragon plans to do enough jobs to get the promotion, then step back for “family reasons,” to keep her cover in place in case of future need.

Star got a call the next morning from Tiffany. She totally doesn’t apologize for ditching her the night before. “I’m only telling you this because I love you, and because you know I’ll destroy you completely if you use this against me. I think I’m in over my head.”

“Wen-Yi has always been more interested in maintaining and pruning his contacts than in running a business. Vana works for him, not the business. Therefore he’s on Sado Island because he wants to be! And what kind of shit is going to go down that a rich old man would rather be in a dorm room in the North Sea than here? I need to know that!

Vanta is… tight-lipped. And besides, finding out from her would be cheating. She needs to figure it out on her own. So, she wants to hire Star! Star agrees to find out she can for her.

That afternoon, Svetlana joins the team in the crime warehouse to review Star’s braindance footage.

She has a resident alien ID for Vir. It’s entirely legit: she “had her agent stolen” and got a duplicate issued. Paragon uses the legit ID to make a flawless version for Vir and exceptionally good copies for the rest of the team.

Svetlana adds that she’s learned that there’s a club in the Spire, Nightshade, that draws the Betazoids who work for various corps as advisors. It’s a Betazoid club, but word is it’s open to anyone who respects their customs. There’s also a bar/restaurant, Tratlen Ridge, on Odiaba Island that caters to the embassy crowd, including Betazoids.

They turn to security analysis: Svetlana concludes that security in the gallery is professional but not anywhere near world-class. She pushes them to develop a tight plan with multiple backups. There’s no back door, but there’s a window in the upstairs manager’s office that has a view of the roof of the building across the way. Vir will be up there with their rifle and a rope ladder, if opposition comes in the front door.

She asks Star to give her a makeover as a local, and after a small battle with her conscience, agrees to tech-hair implantation. She’s psyched by the results. She’ll act as a lookout and distraction if need be, out on the street, while Carbide and Paragon handle the actual burglary.

Carbide easily spoofs the outside cameras. The door lock is trickier, and they fuss with it for a while, necessitating Svetlana distracting a local security guard with a full-Karen complaint about a shopkeeper. Eventually, they get inside, where they hack the receptionist’s terminal to give themselves authorized access as delivery people.

They proceed upstairs, and make the substitution of their forgery for the real Romulan ceramics, after a bit of a scare and some quick improvising on the actual handoff. On their way back out, however, they almost run into a woman on her way from the media room to the bathroom, stark naked. She thinks she hears something, but her companion cajoles her to return, and they sneak past. Paragon’s unable to rewrite the security database, but does manage to erase their own biometrics from the permission system. They’re out and clear!

They make the handoff to Svetlana, who pays them gladly. Within a couple days, they’re messaged by Elyssa Castiglione of LovingHands Insurance: the Mouse disappeared Boozer. She pays up on that job as well.